has the shit finally hit the fan,


http://www.guardiannewsngr.com/breaking_news/article01

Transcorp begins unbundling of NITEL


About seven months after acquiring the premier telecoms company, NITEL, Transnational Corporation has mapped out strategies to "unbundle'' the company to other investors. Under the arrangement, the exchanges of the premier telecom company will be managed by smaller companies while the company's network will be shared with vendors. Investigations by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) showed that the decision to unbundle the company was taken at a board meeting held in Abuja last week. A source at the NITEL headquarters said the company had already entered into discussions with PTO's over the exercise. The source said that the telecoms company had been having problem managing the ailing network and had not been able to generate enough money to ensure its revival. The source said the company had decided to go into partnership with some international telecom vendors for the maintenance of the network, which will involve sharing of the proceeds with NITEL.The source was, however, not sure whether the SAT-3 under- sea cable would be part of the segments to be leased out to other operators. Investigations also show that the company had not restored its pre-paid platform, which crashed two years ago. NITEL Spokesman Bala Abdulkadir told NAN in a statement issued in Abuja that "NITEL will partner with vendor companies on network maintenance contracts''. He said the partnership was "designed to ensure optimal network availability, zero tolerance for network failure and improved revenue. Marketing and sales initiatives will be overhauled and rejuvenated to meet today's challenges of the telecoms industry, while part of the strategies will result in NITEL's major competitors becoming collaborators," he said. ''Transcorp's effort to raise funds to turn around the fortune of the company had met with difficulties, resulting in the board and management looking inward in order to be remain relevant.